Overview

The most daring director in interwar Latvia, Vilis Lapenieks, who around the same time began work on the box office hit Zvejnieka dēls (The Fisherman's Son, 1939), has attempted to highlight the singing festivals held in Latvia to date with national romantic enthusiasm in this compilation of archive material financed by the Ministry of Public Affairs, which is why the film's subtitle is "From the 1st to the 9th Song Festival." In a movingly patriotic staging and expressive performance by an actor in makeup, the film begins by presenting the most important points from Kronvaldu Ata's speech at the first All-Latvian Song Festival. The main focus is on the IX Latvian Song Festival, which took place in Riga, at Victory Square, on June 18-19, 1938, "under the patronage of President Dr. K. Ulmanis." The film includes an excerpt from Kārlis Ulmanis' speech.